Every New Beginning
by Abydosorphan
Summary: Jack is stuck dealing with high school and gets a visitor.
Jack placed his tray on the table in the far corner of the cafeteria, his self-imposed 'loner' status being the one piece of his current reality that seemed to keep him sane. Avoiding personal contact with most of the pubescent people around him was definitely his best plan.

Stupidity had always annoyed him. In the Air Force, especially at the SGC, it hadn't been tolerated. Here, it was virtually impossible to evade.

A shadow fell over his table as a figure dared to approach his small sanctuary. His quick glance revealed the intruder to be the 'new' new kid - a young blonde girl that had shyly entered his second period history class five minutes late.

"Mind if I sit here?"

He barely glanced at her. Girls didn't interest him. Getting involved with someone who was literally sixteen or seventeen, fantasizing about getting married, buying a house, going to college, a white-picket fence, 2.5 children and a dog was not his idea of the ideal woman. No siree, Bob.

"Sure. Whatever."

The girl sat, much to his surprise. Most of the people he'd met so far thought he was a geek, because of his interest in so-called science fiction and astronomy, or rude because of his apparent disinterest in anything and everything they flocked to.

Her tray moved slightly closer to his, and he moved the mashed potatoes around a bit more, wondering if he could mold them into the shape of the dumb Asgard that had cursed him into this semi-existence and then use them as a voodoo doll of some sort. Daniel would have probably loved that. He could see it now. Daniel analyzing the behavior and coming up with some sort of explanation dealing with the fact that O'Neill was an Irish surname and the potato the staple of the Irish diet and early economy and how the Irish beliefs came from the Celts which were deeply rooted in mysticism and the occult and would therefore be a perfectly good outlet for potato-voodoo.

She cleared her throat and he wondered slightly if she'd been speaking while he'd been daydreaming. He cast a quick glance in her direction when she flopped her bag on the table and started rooting around in it for something.

The Air Force wings caught his eye. There they were, pinned neatly to the flap of her carryall. Where most girls would have the button from their favorite group, or some outrageous statement written, this girl had a pair of Air Force wings.

"Your dad in the Air Force?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. He was." She seemed to trail off. He wondered if she was surprised that he'd spoken to her or just distracted by whatever she was looking for.

He glanced over again, taking in a bit more this time. Her lunch consisted of a salad and a cup of Jell-O. He'd yet to try the school Jell-O, the thought of the treat bringing back too many memories of a life that was no longer his, but it didn't look very appetizing.

Pointing to the small cup that sat on her tray with his mashed potato-covered fork he asked, "Are you really going to eat that?"

A blonde head of French braided hair popped into his field of vision, a shy smile crossing her face as she followed his gaze.

"Um. Probably not. Old habits just die hard I guess, though that's not my favorite flavor."

"Yeah, green isn't my favorite either. I like the red. Though I know someone who is a real sucker for the blue stuff."

"Oh, yeah?" Her cheeks blushed slightly as she met his gaze, her blue eyes shining vibrantly. "Who would that be?"

His jaw felt like it was going to hit the floor. His casual, sideways glances had somehow managed to allow him to overlook the most important features of the person sitting across the table from him. Sure, she was at least twenty years younger than the last time he'd seen her, but the brilliant light behind her smile, the twinkle in her eyes, was all exactly the same. How had he managed to miss it?

"Carter? I… I mean… Sam?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"How? I mean, why? When?"

"Well, I won't go into the exact nature of the science behind the 'how', let's just leave it at pretty much the same process as you went through. As for the why… Do you really think they would let you loose on the normal populace un-chaperoned? And for the when… which part? When was it decided on, when was it started, or when was it completed?"

She opened up one of the text books and started jotting notes in a spiral notebook as she finished talking.

"Um…what made you… er… her… well… YOU decide to do this? Does, um, he know?"

She stopped writing for a moment and tapped her pen against her lower lip before she looked up at him and answered.

"It took a lot of thought, but it wasn't that hard of a decision to come to. I mean, it's not like Daniel or Murray could have done it any easier. Just glad we were able to reach Thor before he went AWOL. And I think so, but I'm not sure."

He couldn't believe this. She started writing again as he sat there, digesting the information she had given him more than his lunch. "You think so?"

Stopping her writing again, she glanced up but didn't quite meet his gaze. "Well, I know she didn't talk to him about it all before hand. She knew you… er, he would try and talk her out of it. But she told Hammond that she wanted him to know about it, and she would talk to him about it afterward."

"Once he couldn't try to stop her."

"Pretty much." She nodded her head, smiling her thousand watt smile. Before burying her nose back into the books before her.

"Carter?"

Her eyebrow rose before her head did. "You really won't fit in if you keep it up with that, sir."

Jack rolled his eyes, "What ever gave you the idea that I was trying to fit in?"

Sam laughed lightly, "That's right, far be it from me to ever say that Jack O'Neill ever did anything normal."

For the first time since he had put on the show for his elder self and walked into the halls of this temporary prison, Jack O'Neill smiled. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"So… Sam… what's your schedule look like?"


End file.
